


Chronological Order

by InsertName



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Hurt Stiles, M/M, They travel alot btw, addict!Stiles, domestic abuse, stiles is a drug addict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:15:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1472809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertName/pseuds/InsertName
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles travels, becomes an addict, falls in love, almost dies, and makes a friend. Not in that order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chronological Order

**Author's Note:**

> First story on AO3. Me and my lovely friend are writing fanfics for each other and thus this story became. I didn't proof read the second half because I didn't mean for this to be a 12k long fanfic so I apologize for all mistakes. Enjoy!

**Escaping beacon hills was the best idea Stiles has had in the past 4 years. He had done it on a whim, in quiet speed like the attack of a cheetah. That day is the most prominent in his reachable memory.**

_“DEREK”_

_“Stiles?” Derek answers in his same indifferent yet slightly annoyed tone, one he had reserved specially for Stiles’ unannounced visits to his loft._

_They weren’t friends; they would barely consider themselves associates at this point. That didn’t take away the fact that they were pack, they had earned each other’s trust over the years even if only in the event to protect someone else. This being why Derek didn’t necessarily mind Stiles’ presence, in fact the younger boys visits along with the arguments of the newlyweds who recently moved in beneath him were the only times his loft reached a volume meeting the average human’s toleration. “I just came to get my hoodie back that I wore over here last time.”_

_“The one you’re wearing?” Derek asks, face straight._

_“Well yes,” Stiles answers the question without really answering at all. He plops down on the insignificant couch (he calls it that because there is no TV in front of it so what’s the point?) and looks at Derek with the same cheesy smile he’s had on for as long as Derek has known him. “I noticed I had it on already but I was already in the car so I figured we might as well hang and do that thing friends do.”_

_“We’re not friends.”_

_“We are a little bit.”_

_“No.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“I won’t go back and forth with you.” Derek states, ending the argument before it begins._

_Stiles’ smile brightens. “Sour wolf is at it again,” he stands and walks towards Derek, placing his chin on the other man’s shoulder. “I’ll break you one day you know.”_

_“I look forward to it.”_

_Stiles hums in response and begins towards the steps, not looking back. “you got any food, oh wait you never do, how do you feel about sushi?”_

_“Stiles.”_

_“No? Sushi not doing it for you, I mean I had pizza the other day but I wouldn’t mind going at it a second time.”_

_“Stiles I was on my way off actually.”_

_“Oh,” Stiles replies, almost shocked. “You never go anywhere. Where to?”_

_Derek shrugs, placing the backpack Stiles didn’t know he was wearing on the coffee table before him. “New York first, then London, want to try Montreal too, anywhere actually.”_

_“Why?”_

_“I hate this town.”_

_Stiles barks out a laugh. “Derek, no one likes this town.”_

_Surprisingly Derek laughs at that in return. It was true, that identical hatred you could notice just walking down an average street in Beacon Hills. The people who lived here lived in terror for the unknown, and the people who knew what was so terrible were exhausted protecting the other. Derek honestly hurt, his body hurt, his mind felt over used, all in all he was just tired. “That’s true, but right now I hate it a bit too much to stay.”_

_“I forbid you from leaving.”_

_“You forbid me?”_

_“I do.”_

_Derek nods, playing along with whatever game stiles was dealing. “and why is that?” A sarcastic tone hanging off his tongue._

_“Well, Scott is spending all his time with Allison before college in the summer, Lydia is in some European country with Jackson, and I’m…. bored.”_

_“Stiles I was never very entertaining.”_

_Stiles shrugs. “But you are a person who I could hold a conversation with me for more than 7 minutes and I’ll take that.”_

_“So come with me.”_

_“Yeah, right.”_

_Derek smiles and pulls his backpack on, walking towards the door. “Close up on your way out will you.”_

_Stiles feels tested. He wasn’t sure if Derek was even being serious about the offer, but he honestly couldn’t handle a summer stuck in his house listening to his father talk about why he should be able to eat cheese fries and what fun stuff that wasn’t really fun at all that he could do in college. Derek gave him his only escape, one that was in a 12 minute driving distance and parent approved. He’s had a pretty tough year anyway, having a demonic spirit trapped in his body for weeks, defeating an alpha of alphas, he’s right on boat with Derek. The only thing really stopping him is he can’t see himself returning to Beacon Hills after he finally leaves. He had college at NYU as an escape route, but that wasn’t till fall. It’s only June and he wanted to spend the time with the father he hadn’t talked to much lately. “Wait! I’ll come!” Stiles shouts after him._

_Derek turns in confusion. “I was joking.”_

_“Well I’m not.” Stiles says running up to Derek and stopping right before him.  “You’re not the only one who hates this town.”_

_“You’re not even packed.” Derek replies meeting his gaze._

_“THAT’S WHY IT AN ADVENTURE!” Derek is positive the people in the building over could here stiles’ scream, but there was no use arguing with him. He knows they all could use a vacation._

_Stiles runs past Derek in haste, already in the passenger seat of Derek’s Camaro by the time the older boy realizes what’s happening. Derek breathes out a sigh and closes the door of his loft looking back at his old home a final time. “What have you gotten yourself into Derek?”_

**In short he started traveling the world with a somewhat friend 6 years his senior, avoided his dad for two weeks and possible giving said father a heart attack, procrastinating on college preparations, and having no interest in ever returning to the supernatural obsessed town.**

**At first the idea was sketchy. They were buying tickets to any plane closest to the time they arrived at the airport, staying at dingy hotels, and eating McDonalds on the regular. Honestly both of them had become comfortable with their life styles; they had become comfortable with each other. It happened slowly then all at once, Stiles would gravitate a little more toward Derek when they slept in the same bed, Derek would overreact if even a scratch was found on Stile’s skin. They had become actual friend over this process, and one would guess so given they were only familiar with one another on these adventures.**

_“You realize I start college in exactly a month from today, we have officially spent the better half of a summer together. You’re welcome.” They are currently driving in some rental through the streets of Florida. Stiles hates Florida; he hates the heat, and the people and he can’t  for the life of him understand why Derek would waste his money on not just himself but Stiles too to get him there. That’s another thing Stiles doesn’t get, he doesn’t get why Derek always had money and never asked him for anything back. Not that Stiles had anything to give back really but still._

_“Don’t flatter yourself.”_

_Stiles smiles at the response and clasps his hands together, resting them just above his crotch. “Are you ever going back to Beacon Hills?” He asks after a moment of silence._

_Derek doesn’t reply until he gets to the red light a little bit ahead. “I will if Scott needs me to.” The light goes green and he continues, “Or if you need me to.”_

_“So no hopefully?”_

_“No, hopefully.”_

_Stiles nods his head and relaxes back into the seat he raised from a minute prior. He takes a minute to word his question correctly, but he end up just blurting out, “come to New York with me.” The younger boy turn to look at Derek who has his usual emotionless face painted on.  “I honestly don’t even know why I want you to come, but I think it be pretty fucking awesome if you did.”_

_Derek laughs and shakes his head._

_“What?”_

_“Nothing.” Smile still clear and prominent on his face._

_“Tell me.”_

_“It’s nothing, it’s just, you never think about anything until 8 days after you do it. I know, I counted.”_

_“You counted?”_

_“I did.”_

_“That’s creepy.”_

_“You’re creepy.”_

_“You’re an idiot.” Stiles states matter-of-factly, getting in the last word as he always does. Stiles doesn’t know if Derek just gives up on winning their arguments, or if he never actually thought the argument deserved the amount of effort to truly fight back. Stiles does remember the one fight they had that Stiles had seen him sincerely upset. He honestly can’t remember what it’s about; he tried every method possible to forget. He thinks it was either about himself almost dying, or about himself pushing Derek too far, either way Derek was mad and Stiles isn’t stupid enough to push a werewolf too far._

_“I’m not coming to your college with you.”_

_“Then don’t, just come to New York, get an apartment, make new friends.”_

_“I have no friends.”_

_“I’m your friend.”_

_“You’re my problem.”_

_“Your problem who is your friend.”_

_Derek rolls his eyes. He can’t find a good reason to follow Stiles to New York, he has no purpose there. He has enjoyed spending the past month and a half with the younger boy but that doesn’t mean he should move into the same city with him._

He did end up going in the end, all on his own too.

“ _Yes dad, yes dad, okay dad, I will call you the minute I settle in, alright, I will, love you too.” Stiles is sitting in the passenger seat, once again, of Derek’s car. They are in the parked near the NYU campus doors, and Stiles has no intention of getting out the car._ “That was my dad.”

_“I figured.”_

_“He says hi.”_

_Derek responds with a hum and shrugs further into his seat. Goodbyes were awkward, and Derek didn’t like them. In his defense he did have to say goodbye to his whole family before he was even legal, before he even had the chance to go to junior prom even._

_“Well I guess this is goodbye, have fun traveling the world and such.” Stiles says unmoving, not looking at Derek. He waits for the older man to reply and is somewhat upset when he doesn’t. “You’ll visit and stuff right? You liked New York remember?”_

_“Stiles… I don’t know.”_

_The pale boy crosses his arms and scrunches his face. “God, I just feel like it’s wrong to leave a friend that I’ve spent every day with for two and a half months just like that.”_

_“First of all, we’re not friends. Second, I might come to visit.”_

_That causes a reaction; Stiles jumps out the car and slams the door, leaning his head into the open window. “You know you won’t.”_

_“I don’t know anything, stop being a child.”_

_“I AM A CHILD!” Stiles screams, paying no attention to the bystanders. Admittedly it was an odd scene for anyone passing by, the type Stiles and Derek would take 30 minutes guessing the story of type of scene. But stiles knew their story, he lived it in fact. Derek was the emotionless yet completely emotional over aged friend who didn’t actually want to be Stiles’ friend but did. Stiles had liked it that way; he liked how he could talk for hours and Derek wouldn’t interrupt him, he liked how Derek would embarrass him on any occasion he could, he liked how sensitive Derek was about family and his pack, he liked just being with Derek these whole two and a half months. “Derek you can’t just leave okay. I don’t know anyone here. What if my roommate is a flesh eating vampire or some other equally or more horrifying supernatural creature?”_

_“Call me, I’ll come back. This isn’t the first time you would’ve been face-to-face with a monster, I think you can manage until I get here.”_

_“Deeeerrrreeeekkk.” Stiles whines._

_“Stiiillleeess.” Derek mocks. “I’ll see you.” He pulls the lever down from park and looks toward the road._

_“Wait Derek, I really really don’t want you to go.” Stiles is begging now, his hands are grabbing the window frame so hard they are turning white. Stiles doesn’t want to grow up, he doesn’t want to go to college, he wants to go to Amsterdam and Sydney and anywhere else Derek would be. “Please just, stay one night.”_

_Derek exhales loudly and pauses for a moment, thinking. “I’ll stay one night; I’ll text you when to come out.”_

_Stiles jumps twice quickly before regaining composure. “I could kiss you right now.”_

_“Please don’t.”_

“Okay.” He responds, accepting his defeat. “See you tonight wolfy.”

“Don’t call me that, have fun doing whatever it is people do in college.”

_Stiles nods and turns towards the school ahead of him. He was honestly more afraid at this moment than he has ever been. It amazed him how he once was in a pool for several hours with an alpha werewolf to prevent a paralyzing lizard man from killing them both, and now he can’t fathom the thought of going to college and being alone. NYU was large, and very confusing. It felt large for how tight is actually was. Back in Beacon Hills, nothing surrounded the community college besides woods; it was as if the college in itself was too special to be surrounded by things of other context. NYU was different, you walk out of the school and you were in real life. People walked by the school every day with no intention of going in it or even giving it more than a passing glance. All much more invested in their own situation._

_“You must be my roommate.” This boy, whose name I did not know, was a bit too perfect for Stiles’ taste. They say New York is the city to change your appearance but this kid fits right in. He had dark brown hair that curled up and creamy slightly tanned skin, as if he had a tinge of something foreign in his blood. Those eyes though, they really took stiles focus off the conversation at hand. They were a deep green, almost alpine but still natural and still deadly attractive. “Hello?”_

_Stiles snaps into reality after hearing his voice fill the room again, he holds out his hand insinuating for it to be shook. “Stiles.”_

_“Weird name.”_

_“Something like that.”_

_The nameless boy smiles and grabs Stiles’ hand. “Tylen.”_

_“Weird name.”_

_“Something like that.” He laughs and drops Stiles’ hand. “I was going to take this side, I hope you don’t mind.”_

_Stiles raises his shoulder and quickly swings his neck to the side in a way only stiles could make seem normal. “No it’s all cool. Beds will be uncomfortable no matter what.”_

_Tylen laughs and shrugs. “That is very true.” There is a moment of silence while Stiles unpacks his things and throws his sheets on his bed. “What’s your major?”_

_“Oh um,” Stiles turns to look at him from where he had settled on all fours attempting to figure out the fitted sheet. “Computer science, you?”_

_“Chemistry.”_

_“You want to be a scientist?”_

_He laughs. “No, I want to be an artist, but my parents want me to invest in a so called “real” future.”_

_“Yeah I want to be a police officer, but I figure college is one of those things you just have to do or something.”_

_He nods and another long amount of time passes before one of them speaks up again. “You want to tour campus with me?”_

_There is a lot about Tylen to learn. For example, he was actually supposed to be named Tyler but both of his parents have horrible hand writing and the doctor misunderstood. He also hates when you called him by his full name and prefers people called him Ty instead. Ty is fluent in French and Spanish because he spent 2 years living in Europe and his father wants him to take over the family car business after he graduates._

_Their laughing was beginning to die out before Ty finally spoke up. “Enough about me, what’s your story?”_

_“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”_

_“Try me.”_

_Just as Stiles was about to create an elaborate life story that was technically still true but danced around the fact that yeah, supernatural creatures exist, his phone rings. He looks down at the caller ID then at the time. Why would Derek be calling him so early? Well that’s what he would ask if it wasn’t ten PM. He slides the green button to answer the still ringing call. “Derek?”_

_“Do you plan on coming outside?”_

_Stiles smiles awkwardly up at Tylen. “Fuck, yes, wasn’t paying attention to the time. Be out in just a minute.” He hangs up the call and begins to gather his books and explain his absence to his new friend._

_Tylen beat him to it. “Got plans for the night?”_

_“Just a friend, well somewhat a friend. This is his last night in town and I was going to spend it with him.”_

_“No worries, you’ll be seeing me every day anyway.”_

_Stiles nods and stares at him for a second. Not in a creepy way, but if stiles is staring it might appear as such. He was looking for something that seemed off about him, something that would make college suck for him. He came up short. This was someth_ _ing he began doing after peter died; he just checked everything for faults. He was cautious because he was almost close to losing his life to many times not to be. “Right, thanks for the tour and that, see you when I get back.” He jogs of with his phone in hand before getting a response._

_Stiles doesn’t realize how lost he is until it 21 minutes after getting Derek’s call and he has literally no idea where Derek parked. He checked the place the older boy dropped him off at, but he would be damned if he walked the whole campus perimeter. That laziness however didn’t make him any less lost. He was seconds away from giving up before a hand is wrapped around his and he was face to face with the man of the hour._

_“Stiles I’ve been waiting for a half hour.” Derek argues, releasing Stiles’ wrist._

_“I got a little lost okay, but I’m here now, in the flesh. Let’s do this thing.”_

_Derek rolls his eyes but begins walking to his rental car knowing Stiles would be close behind._

_“What’s on the agenda for this evening?” Stiles asks, opening the door to Derek’s car._

_“I’m taking you to a movie, then maybe we can walk the square, and if you don’t have to be back tonight you could stay at my new place.”_

_Stiles nods as Derek runs through the plans. “What movie are w- your new place? YOUR NEW PLACE? Are you staying in New York then?”_

_“What do you think?” Derek answers, words dripping in sarcasm. A stile smile and playfully hits his shoulder causing Derek to chuckle._

**Somewhere along the line they become what some may call friends. Stiles thought it was great, Derek and Ty were his two closest friends and both of them are gorgeous so in his mind he was hot by association. Derek was equally as excited even if he’d never admit it. Stiles was the first real friend he’d had since high school. After you get most of your family burnt alive you tend to close off from the world. Stiles was nice though. It seemed like anytime Derek was around people they would be attempting to figure him out, as if he were a puzzle and getting him to smile would be the grand prize. He liked that Stiles didn’t do that, just accepted the fact that sometimes Derek doesn’t laugh at his joke, and doesn’t talk back in rejoice. How they became friends is something you’ll have to ask Derek about because Stiles can’t remember most of anything from that night.**

_“Stiles I have never seen a bigger lightweight!” Ty calls, his face rested on the crook of Stiles’ neck and his arms surrounding his roommate. Ty is what some may call a ‘lovey drunk’ and his now roommate of 6 weeks was getting all the love. Stiles doesn’t mind however; he was much past plastered and his level of intoxication was making Derek uncomfortable. His heart rate had slowed down substantially and the older male’s senses were acting as though Stiles were dying which is a thought Derek didn’t enjoy._

_Derek would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the big apple. Everything was fast paced, and his silence wasn’t mistaken for meanness. No one stopped him, no one asked him questions, no one was being murdered by any supernatural beings. Derek liked it here, and the fact that he could see Stiles almost every day was a definite benefit._

_“I am not a lightweight!” The pale boy tries to free himself from his friends hold but almost trips in the process. Both of his friends catch him quickly as he bursts into fit of giggles. “Okay maybe I’m a little bit of a lightweight.” He holds up his index and middle finger, keeping them an inch apart. Little was an understatement, he had fallen twice and lost his fake ID within seconds of entering._

_Derek didn’t think any of this was funny, he just wanted to drive Stiles home and then fall asleep in his own bed. “You guys maybe it’s time to head home.” He suggest, attempting to not sound annoyed but seeing he failed when Stiles gives him a confused glare._

_“What’s wrong derbear? Why aren’t you drunk?” Stiles knows Derek can’t be ‘drunk’ but he can be drinking, and he isn’t._

_“That’s not my name.” is the only response he received._

_The night boils on and Derek’s blood is boiling just as wildly. There are too many bodies to keep track of either Stiles or Ty. He thought he could find either of the boys in any condition because both of them had an extremely pungent smell. Ty smelled like pine trees and salt water drowned behind way too much axe. Stiles was odd and to this day he has no idea what exactly he smelled like. He knows that the boy smells like fire, but there were at least two other things he held in his scent and the older boy was lost at what those two things were._

_He does smell Stiles though. Well, he does after about 40 minutes of nothing but sniffing the air (Which yes, looks very odd). Derek walks outside and down the road, following the smell of fire and two other things he doesn’t know but could easily identify as Stiles. When he does catch sight of Stiles he isn’t happy with what he sees. Stiles was standing on the roof of a building parallel to the club he just exited._

_“Stiles what are you doing?” he raises his voice so the younger boy hears him._

_“Derek, don’t come near me okay.” Stiles holds up his hand and matches Derek’s tone. “I am going to jump of this building and fall to my death.” He pauses. “I think… this building isn’t very high and I’m too drunk to calculate speed and stuff.”_

_Stiles must be the depressed drunk because Derek has seen him deal with killing people and watching others in pain and still wouldn’t purposely off himself without a good cause. “Stiles what are you talking about? I’m coming up there.” Derek looks around scanning his surrounding before quickly jumping on the roof, then the fire escape, then the roof._

_“Derek no, you can’t stop me I’m gonna jump.”_

_“Stiles you’re drunk.” He states matter-of-factly. “You can’t kill yourself when you’re drunk.”_

_“That’s not a real rule.” He attempts to point at Derek but ends up being caught from falling once again. “I’m just gonna not move until I’m ready.”_

_Derek scrunches his eyes and looks at the boy before him. “Why would you even think of killing yourself?”_

_Stiles moves his hands to sit on his crotch, folded. “Derek, you know how when Kate like killed your whole family and it was kind of your fault but not really but you still felt bad about it and now you’re all big and mean and you don’t have any friends but it really wasn’t your fault but you still blame yourself for it?” He asks, not taking a breath anywhere through that statement. “Well I feel like that okay, I feel like I killed all those people even though I didn’t. I didn’t do anything, but it’s still all my fault.”_

_Derek sighs and both of them remain quiet for a few minutes. “You’re wrong.” He looks at the New York sky line and whispers, not even so much to Stiles but just outward. “I have a friend, I have you.”_

**So that’s what they became. They became friends, they talked about crushes and did each other’s nails… well that’s not true. They acted exactly the same; it just felt a bit different. They both felt a little bit lighter when they were around each other. They both smiled a bit more and yelled a bit less. They got comfortable with each other, comfortable enough to say when they were upset, or when they were questioning themselves.**

_Stiles jumps off of Denis in haste. Denis was Ty’s 17 year old brother who was visiting for the weekend, and Stiles is 98 percent sure he just kissed him; on the lips._

_It was innocent, he thinks. They were talking about Denis coming out to his parents and how hard it was for him living down south being an out gay kid. Then Stiles starts talking about how no one in beacon hills cared and Denis asked if he cared and next think Stiles knows he is trying to prove his lack of homophobia by kissing Denis. Realistically that’s a legitimate reason to be kissing someone, but that wasn’t just a kiss. There was tongue and touching and he hadn’t had a kiss like that since Malia._

_“Sorry, I just.” He paces grabbing his phone off his bed and rubbing his head. “I remembered I promised my friend I would have lunch with him. I’ll text Ty and tell him you’re here.”_

_Denis laughs and shakes his head. “No worries, I got it go have lunch with your friend.”_

_“Right.” He nods. “Thanks.”_

_Stiles walks fast, typing out Derek’s number in the process._

_“Hello?” Derek answers after two rings._

_“You up for lunch?”_

_“For you dear, always.” He laughs. “See you at that shop on Broadway in 12.”_

_This is what Stiles and Derek did when they were going through something. They went to the same place on Broadway and sat. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they were silent, and sometimes they talked about anything but the problem at hand, but it helped._

_Stiles isn’t gay, he had been in love with Lydia Martin for the better half of his life and she is undoubtedly a female. However that didn’t mean he wasn’t attracted to boys, he’s just now realizing how much. He was more than ready to jump Ty the first time he saw him. Hell, he even has the every so often sex dream staring Derek Hale and himself, but he figured that was just because Derek was his best friend._

_He’s sitting in the deli in a chair that faces straight to the window so he doesn’t miss Derek when he walks in. His leg is shaking and in a very un-Stiles like way. It wasn’t liking men that was bothering him, it was that he wasn’t exactly who he thought he was that’s bothering him. He was still the same hyperactive teenager that he was before, but he felt like a new person, he felt like Stiles 2.0._

_A figure appears in the door way and Stiles recognizes it as Derek. He stands so that his friends wouldn’t miss him when he walked in. Not as if he really could. This was New York after all; no restaurant was big enough to lose someone in._

_“Hey.” Stiles greets Derek before sitting back in his seat._

_“What’s wrong, you smell like distress.” Derek asks, worry visible in his face._

_“Do you think I’m gay?” Stiles blurts out, ignoring the question._

_“I tend not to think about your sexuality Stiles.” He places his hands on the table, almost grabbing Stiles’ sandwich to take a bite, but stopping short. “What brought on this sudden self-questioning exercise?”_

_Stiles shifts and stays quiet, trying to word the events correctly but he was never good at putting things in chronological order so he figures he should just spit out what happened. “I like made out with Ty’s cousin Denis and it was actually thoroughly enjoyable.”_

_“And now you think you’re gay?”_

_“Well am I?”_

_“No.” Derek answers, sure of himself._

_“How would you know?” Stiles asks almost offended._

_“You loved Lydia. Bisexual, maybe.”_

_Stiles nods and remains silent._

_“I dated a guy for a little while before Kate.” Derek states in attempt to calm the mood._

_Stiles almost spits his water out on the table had he actually had water in his mouth. “YOU WHAT?”_

_“I dated a guy named Colton for five and a half weeks in high school.”_

_“Why didn’t you tell me?”_

_“I just did.”_

_Stiles nods and they were silent again. “So you’re bisexual?”_

_Derek sighs. “Something like that.”_

_“So can we make out or no?”_

_“Absolutely not.”_

**Except they did make out, they made out a lot after that. Derek and Stiles had become what some would refer to as ‘friends with benefits’. Neither was actually ready to be in a relationship; whether they admit it or not they were still recovering from everything that happened in Beacon Hills, but the sex was good.**

**The thing about being friends with benefits is that someone always falls in love, and that person is Stiles.**

_“Well then go out with her Derek!” Stiles screams throwing Derek’s phone next to where he is sat on the couch._

_Moments before this they were watching some straight to DVD horror movie they got from some vintage shop down the road and Derek asked him to order pizza. Which Stiles had full intention of doing until he saw a message from a girl name Kimberly stating she was excited to see him tomorrow._

_“I don’t understand why you’re so mad, it’s just a date.”_

_“REALLY DEREK, REALLY.” Stiles screamed but quieted remembering these walls were basically paper. “Did you even think about how that would make me feel?”_

_Derek stands and walks towards the kitchen. “No Stiles I didn’t think about how that would make you feel because we are not together.”_

_Stiles laughs sarcastically. “Yeah but I’m not screwing other people.”_

_“I haven’t screwed anybody.”_

_“Not yet.”_

_Derek shifts his weight to one side and crosses his arms. “Stiles.”_

_“No Derek, go have fun on your little date and when you get back from it don’t call me because I’ll be fucking someone I picked up off the street and won’t be thinking about Derek Hale at all.”_

_“Stiles, I don’t get this, I really don’t. Can you explain this to me?” Derek asks, honestly confused._

_“Derek.” He states calming himself down. “We’ve been sleeping together for over 5 months now, and you don’t think it’s a bit odd to all of a sudden start sleeping with someone else? Do you think she’d be okay with that? Do you think I’d be okay with that?”_

_But that’s just it; Derek doesn’t understand feelings he can’t sniff out. He hasn’t needed to for all these year. Now he is face to face with nothing but pure emotion from Stiles. Emotion he doesn’t know how to process, emotions he doesn’t want to take advantage of._

_“She asked me.” Derek whispers, almost to himself trying to make sense of the situation. He is the person in the TV now. When Stiles would come over back in Beacon Hills he would watch bad reality TV after school and Derek would think their problems were so microscopic, that it shouldn’t mean nearly as much to them as it did. Now he’s looking at Stiles; he was radiating with anger and hurt and insecurities and love, finally he realized how big problems are when they’re your problems. He was the dick head who hurt someone’s feelings even if not purposely. He hurt someone he cared about._

_“I don’t care, you didn’t have to say yes. Do you think she cares about you as much as I do? Do you think she could ever-”_

_“She just meant me.”_

_“BUT I DIDN’T, IVE BEEN HERE THIS WHOLE TIME, DEREK I-”_

_“Love me?” He wasn’t looking at Stiles, he was looking at anything but Stiles. Smelling pain on someone was different from seeing it, and he was willing to see Stiles like that._

_“No.” He begins to gather his things and put on his shoes. “I’m an idiot.” He stops at the door hand on the knob with his eyes locked on Derek’s. “I was an idiot for thinking you would ever be capable of caring about me as much as I care about you.”_

**That’s how it all began. That’s how they went from cliché happy friends living in New York to what they are now.**

_“Stiles?” That name feels like venom on his tongue. After Stiles left he hasn’t spoken to him in six months. He thought for  second about going back to Beacon Hills for the summer where he is sure Stiles traveled to see his father, but decided it wasn’t the best idea. The younger boy looks smaller though, he looks sad, and he smells paranoid._

_Stiles turns quickly to see where his name was being called but misses Derek’s face on the busy streets. He has bags under his eyes and he’s missing that certain awkward smile that Derek identified so many times as his best friend. In fact, had it not been for the same fire and two other substances smell that only Stiles owns, Derek would have passed him without a second glance._

_He runs after the boy, speeding until he is right behind him. He taps him on the shoulder, careful not to frighten. “Stiles.”_

_The younger boy turns but quickly turns back when he realizes who is talking with him. “Please go away.” He says small and cracked._

_“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to you know, frighten you.”_

_“You didn’t.”_

_“Then I’m sorry for what happened six months ago in my apartment.”_

_Stiles is quiet and continues to walk with Derek close behind._

_“I never went out with her you know.”_

_“I accept your apology.” He states quickly, bland. “Now please stop talking to me.”_

_Derek obeys but stays close to Stiles as they walk._

_“Derek.” Almost pleading. “Please.”_

_So Derek stops short allowing Stiles to move far ahead of him, eyes following his back, never really losing sight of him._

_Throughout the next 2 weeks Derek looks around non-stop for Stiles. He tries Ty, but he doesn’t answer. He calls Scott who really never knows anything these days. He tries to resist but on that Friday he calls Stiles’ father._

_“Hello?”_

_“Mr. Stilinski.”_

_The other line is silent for a while. “Who’s this?”_

_“Derek.”_

_“Oh! Sorry, did you need help with something?”_

_“You wouldn’t happen to know what happened to Stiles?”_

_“Something happened to him?” John asks, nervous._

_“No, not like that.” He lies. “Do you know where he is?”_

_“Uh, yeah. He uh, he dropped out of college over break. I haven’t seen him because he, he never came home but he sent me his new address.”_

_“Right, do you think you could text me it?”_

_“Absolutely.”_

_“Great, I’ll talk to you soon.”_

_He’s about to hang up the phone before John halts him. “Wait Derek. Please if you find out anything, please let me know.”_

_“Of course.”_

_That night Derek walks to the address Stiles sent to his father, but he doesn’t actually knock on the door. He is going to, but he stops when he hears Stiles’ voice._

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“Are you?” That was a voice Derek wasn’t familiar with._

_“I am. I’m an idiot, you know I’m just stupid. I don’t think. That’s why you have to teach me. Teach me how to think.” Stiles states, but not with sincerity, almost as if he’d been saying it for a while._

_Derek flinches when he hears the harsh whip contact skin and blood fill his nostrils. He quickly pulls out his phone and responds to the address John sent him earlier with ‘he’s okay’ and walks back home, not able to take the noise any longer._

**That’s how it was now, that’s how Stiles and Derek lived. Stiles would get smaller and smaller, he would get beaten and he would cry until he fell asleep every night. Derek would listen, waiting. He’s not sure for what. Had this been six months ago he would have busted through the door that first night. But he wasn’t Stiles’ best friend anymore. He was a stranger and strangers don’t just jump into other people’s life.**

_“Hello?” Derek answers not recognizing the phone number._

_“Derek? Hey it’s Ty.” There is some shuffling on the other line. “I got a new phone and gave my old one to Denis; he says you’re calling like crazy. What’s up?”_

_“You know what’s up with Stiles?” He wastes no time asking._

_“What dude? Um no, I thought you would know. He told me you guys had a fight a while ago because he was in love with you or something about clearing his head. He like left out and came back a week later. He was normal I guess until it was time for summer break, he never came back.”_

_Derek was silent on the other end because this all sounded so much like the opposite of Stiles. “Are you busy tonight?”_

_“Nothing I guess, I have a paper for lit due on Thursday but I planned on procrastinating until the night before.”_

_“You’re spending it with me, I need your help.”_

_Derek’s plan that isn’t really a plan at all is the reason he is set opposite of his former roommate with Derek not visible in the corner. The plan was for Derek to arrive 30 minutes early so he could order and be completely undisturbed so he could stay unnoticed. Ty would beg, which he did, for Stiles to come and eat with him since they hadn’t seen each other since the new semester started. Derek would of course ease drop the whole time in attempts to find out information and then Derek would let Ty go on his marry way._

_“How’ve you been?” Ty asks awkwardly because this was new; by this time Stiles would have begun an elaborate retelling of every even that happened to him that day, but this time he was silent. He looked tires and was constantly turning to see behind him at the unopened door. “You waiting for someone?”_

_“What?” He snaps before realizing it was just Ty. “I’m sorry, no, no I’m not. It’s just my boyfriend, he gets jealous really easy and he might get the wrong idea and all.”_

_Ty’s smile spreads on his face like a wild fire. “Stilinski has found love!”_

_Stiles shhh’s him holding a finger to his lips. “Please I have a headache.”_

_“Sorry.” Ty apologizes, finally taking the time to rake his eyes over Stiles’ body. Stiles’ was always quite small but even covered in his large sweater you could see in his face how skeleton like he had come. He had a bruise on his wrist that Ty caught when Stiles reached for the menu, and he looked… dead. His skin was shadow like, he was rotting._

_“Tell me about him, the new guy.”_

_Stiles plays with his straw, not looking at Ty. “Not much to say really. Meant him in a club.”_

_“How’d you meet?”_

_He gulps. “The summer when I was supposed to go home I went out instead. I was afraid I would… see someone there. He took me home with him and I never left.”_

_Ty nods and remains quiet for a while, not sure what to say. This wasn’t the Stiles he left. The Stiles he knew could carry on a conversation for hours even when it was about absolutely nothing, this Stiles was new. “Stiles,” He begins, waiting for Stiles to meet his gaze. “are you okay?”_

_“I feel great.” He answer, almost too quickly._

_“You seem different-”_

_“Ty, what would you do if you were trapped in a cage with a lion, but every time you think you’ve left the cage the lion follows you?”_

_Ty rubs his head, raising his hands in defeat. “Uh, I guess you kill the lion?”_

_“You can’t kill a lion Ty, something that will work._

_“How about locking yourself in a cage?”_

_“I guess.”_

_“You guess?”_

_“How have you been?” Stiles asks, changing the subject. “How’s college?”_

_“Same as you left it, slightly easier now that I’ve figured it out.”_

_Stiles nods and doesn’t speak again until their food is in front of them. “Have you heard from Derek lately?”_

_Ty shrugs. “I heard from him a little while ago, he was looking for you.”_

_“How is he?”_

_“Stiles, enough about other people. Dude you look sick and you just kind of threw away your future a while ago. What’s wrong? I don’t get this and I want to help.”_

_Stiles returns his attention back to his straw. “You know when I first meant you all you cared about was art, now you’re telling me to go to college.”_

_“Things change.”_

_“I know, I just… I didn’t mean to just get up and leave I really didn’t, but I can’t just go back.”_

_“Why?”_

_Stiles shrugs and plays with his straw for the twelfth time tonight. “I… I don’t know.”_

_Ty leans in and lowers his voice to a whisper. “Is it because of Derek?”_

_Stiles jolts back into his chair almost annoyed. “Not everything I do has to do with Derek.”_

_“So come back to school.”_

_“I-” Stiles begins. “I can’t. I’m sorry, I keep messing this up.”_

_“Maybe you could talk to Derek about it.”_

_Stiles stands, now visibly upset, “Don’t tell Derek about any of this. This was a mistake.” He heads towards the door. “Do me a favor, next time Derek calls, tell him I never want to see him again.”_

**He didn’t. He didn’t see Derek for a while, but inevitably his rule was broken.**

_“Take it.”_

_“Please,” Stiles pleads. “ I don’t want to, I’m going to quit.”_

_“I’m just trying to help you relax.” A soft voice whispers, Derek almost having to strain to hear._

_Stiles remains silent._

_“Come on, how many times have you tried to quit and failed. You always run back because I feed your obsession, I feed your addiction. Do you think anyone will love you half as much as I do? Do you think anyone will deal with your dependence on this shit?”_

_Derek is sitting on top of the angular roof opposite Stiles’ boyfriend’s apartment. This has become a thing for him, watching and listening. He thinks of stopping all this, he got close when he practically overheard Stiles being raped by the other man behind the window. Each time he just leaves; this time is different._

_“Please don’t Andy, please.”_

_Derek here’s skin meet skin and flinches where he sits. “You never call me that, do you understand?”_

_“I understand.”_

_Derek hears walking and shifting that he can’t make a mental image of. “This is why you need this; you forget your place when you aren’t poisoned.”_

_The apartment remains silent for exactly 9 minutes and 12 seconds before the door slams shut and for the first time Andy is visibly on the sidewalk. He was tall, taller than Derek at least, and he had muscles surrounding his upper bodies like tattoos. He wasn’t however a werewolf, he was a unarguably a very much so human._

_Andy begins walking and Derek remains on the roof waiting for Stiles to do something of interest. Anything was better than listening to Andy and Stiles yelling at each other. The thing is Stiles doesn’t make a single noise for what feels like forever, and even though Stiles didn’t seem like himself lately, there was no way in hell he would stay still for more than 20 minutes. He knows, he heard Andy yell at him about it before._

_Before Derek really thinks it through he’s climbing through the unlocked window next to the fire escape. He doesn’t know what’s so special about tonight, if anything tonight is the one night he should have gone home. Stiles was safe tonight, Andy wasn’t there. Except he wasn’t safe._

_When Derek finds his way around the corner into the kitchen he wasn’t exactly content with the image he was meant with. Stiles body lay next to the lower cabinets, face to the floor and a pool of drool by his mouth. Derek had seen this on a movie Stiles had shown him once, some movie about a pilot who was an alcoholic. Denzel Washington was in it so the actual movie was irrelevant he’s sure it was great. Around his former friend was all the supplies needed to do either heroin or meth so that’s getting somewhere._

_He wasn’t used to this, even when Stiles was drunk you could sense hesitation in his suicide attempt, because he hadn’t jumped when he saw Derek. Stiles knew full well what would happen because he planned on stopping and yet here he was on the floor, probably over dosed on some illegal drug and Derek has no idea what to do._

_He pulls Stiles body up and around his shoulder so that his forearm rested just beneath the younger boys butt. Now he’s back to not knowing what to do, so he does what he knows and calls Ty._

**He ends up being okay.**

“You feeling better now?” Ty asks, sitting a bowl of cereal in front of his old roommate. They were all in Derek’s kitchen, silent. All too afraid to talk until this point.

Stiles looks at the bowl but doesn’t eat it and doesn’t reply.

“Stiles-” Derek starts.

“Are you guys going to take me home, or should I walk.”

Derek and Ty look at each other, both puzzled by Stiles’ question.  After returning from many hours at the hospital last night it was clear just how much damage Stiles had suffered through. He isn’t covered in layers on layers of clothes and no one speaks of the bruises and cuts coloring the better half of his body or the fact that his ribs were visible from 6 feet away. That doesn’t mean they don’t see it.

“Stiles,” Ty sits in the seat opposite his friend as they did at the diner. “you can’t go back there.”

Stiles drops his fist on the table. “Why is everyone always trying to tell me what to do?”

“Stiles, this guy, he’s beating you, why are you letting him do that?”

Stiles shakes his head quickly. “No, no, no, no, no, you don’t get it. It’s not that simple.”

“Tell us.” Derek finally chimes in but Stiles sits back in his chair and remains silent.

Ty leans in. “Tell me.”

With a sigh he finally proceeds. “I got in some trouble with some people. An- He’s protecting me. If I don’t go back they’ll kill me.”

“Who will?” Derek sits in the seat in between Stiles and Ty at the square table.

“I don’t know who they are, he knows them I don’t.”

“What did you do?” Ty questions.

Stiles looks down and doesn’t speak for a while before continuing. “I meant him at a club on the last day of last semester. I didn’t feel like going home yet so I just decided to go out instead of going on the plane. He was really sweet and he bought me drinks and we went back to his place and… well you know.” Derek shifts uncomfortably. “He was in on all this illegal shit I didn’t know about though. I was staying the week there before I finally grew some balls and booked a flight back home. Anyway, on Wednesday he got this shipment of a bunch of drugs and stuff that he was supposed to disperse for the ‘big man’. I was curious one night and asked him if I could try some of it and he said yes.” Derek and Ty both have their brows raised and eyes locked on Stiles. “I was in a dark place okay. Moving on, I basically wanted to do the drugs every day for the rest of my life and I couldn’t afford them so I stole them. He thought someone snuck in while we were out and took them so that’s what he told them.”

“Who’s them?” Ty chimes in.

“Let him finish.”

“I hid them under the trunk of my car in a safe, and it would have worked had he not found me doing heroin one day on his way home. By then I had been staying with him for a month and I hadn’t talked to my dad so I realized I was in a lot of trouble. But, he didn’t tell anyone. He told me he would keep it to himself if I followed his rules, and I agreed.”

“Why?” Derek asks, not angry just yet.

“Because he was nice in the beginning, and what were a few marks if I get to keep my life? I got this much back in Beacon Hills on my own time.”

“Stiles-” Ty begins but Derek beats him to it.

“You’re not going back.”

“Derek.” Stiles tried to reason but chokes on his words finally looking at the older man for the first time in what feels like forever. Images start playing through his head of them riding down the streets of Florida and drinking bad champagne in France, and for a second he smiles, words forming slowly now. “I can’t stay, I have to go or I’ll die.”

“Or we could leave.” Derek suggests quick as if he’d been thinking about it this whole time. “If they find you, I’ll handle it. I’m your friend okay, you always say I am so let me be that to you.”

**They go to Europe because it’s beautiful there. They go to France because it’s the plane they board on accident.**

**They call French a romance language because it derives from the romans. Nothing is more romantic than rekindling an old flame.**

Derek falls next to Stiles on the oversized bed they bought for the night. Even Derek was beginning to wonder when his inheritance would end, but this was for Stiles. Stiles is safe, and healthy, and Derek would spend anything to keep that. Besides, the last time Derek actually checked his bank account, he had over 120 million dollars and he actually had to send some of it out of the country just to keep it safe. There is no way in hell he could’ve spent that much money in the past two years so he’d say for now that he’s set.

“Derek.” Stiles whispers in the darkness. “Thank you for this.”

“It’s okay.” Derek smiles, shifting his body so he’s on his side facing Stiles.

“It’s not.” He shakes his head. “I was stupid when I told you I loved you and to get butt hurt when you didn’t feel the same. You know you should totally teach me how you do that not caring thing because I could really use it. I’m losing hope.”

Derek laughs, actually laughs because this sounded like Stiles. This sounded like what he had been missing for almost two years and he was so happy to have it back he could burst. “I care about something.”

“Well you do a great job hiding it buddy.” He slaps his hand on Derek’s shoulder and gets up to go through the mini-fridge the hotel offered.

Derek sits up and looks at Stiles rummage through the drinks. “I’m sorry about not saying it back.”

Stiles shakes his head, eyes still inside the fridge. “You shouldn’t say things you don’t mean. Besides,” He throws a beer at Derek, which the older man catches. “we all have to get our heart broken at some point.”

Derek nods and moves towards Stiles, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin on Stiles’ shoulder. “Let’s stop talking about this.”

They wait like that for what seems like forever; Derek is focusing on Stiles heartbeat. It’s different from the last time they had really been together. Back then Stile’s heart was always slightly faster than normal. He was always excited or insecure or something equally as stimulating. His heart was calm now. He was comfortable now, surprisingly more confident than he had ever been considering everything he went through just two days prior. “Did he ever touch you?” Derek already knew the answer of course. Stiles reeked of Andy on just about every inch of skin. “Did he ever touch you… the way you deserve to be touched?” Derek asks, choosing his words carefully.

Stiles takes a deep breath, heart still slow. “I don’t remember.” He wasn’t lying. He wants to say in the beginning it was like that, but he really isn’t sure. The first night they just fucked. It only took about two weeks for Stiles to become his personal man slave so he really couldn’t recall the events before then.

Derek hesitates before asking. “Can I?”

Stiles turn abruptly so he is facing Derek, only inches apart. Their eyes are locked but neither one is saying a word. Stiles is almost reading him, a talent he hasn’t quite mastered yet. This wouldn’t be right. Derek isn’t in love with Stiles and Stiles is finally content with that fact. Sleeping with Derek would be inviting his heart to be broken again and he didn’t want that. Except he did. He wants to feel every inch of Derek. He wants to replace any trace of Andy still left on his body even by someone he knew doesn’t care for him in that way. But Stiles isn’t stupid. He may have let Andy call him that many times before, but he knows he isn’t. He knows where this goes and he’d be an idiot to fall back into it with Derek.

So maybe he isn’t as smart as he thinks he was. “Don’t start something you can’t finish Hale.” He whispers, kissing Derek before the older male really has a second to respond.

Derek gently moves his hands to Stiles hips raising his shirt slowly and pulling back when he hear Stiles wince. “Keep going.” Stiles says, so he does. Both of their eyes are closed, and everything around them seemed to slow down to an almost unmanageable pace for Derek. But he wanted this to go slow. He wanted to remember this for as long as he lived. Everything had been fast paced in the last year or so. He controlled this now, he could take as long as he wanted, and he planned to.

Stiles pushes Derek into the wall behind him, fingers on either side of Derek’s face. The thing is, he is so unbelievably in love with this man that it kind of hurt to feel like this was making love; because it wasn’t to Derek. So he doesn’t allow it to be that, he gets aggressive.

Stiles pulls on the short hairs at the top of Derek’s head with one hand and taking the other to cup Derek’s already growing bulge. He smirks a bit to himself even though he knows Derek can feel it on his mouth. Derek reacts by finally pulling the shirt he had been teasing off of Stiles and onto the floor. He begins to move them back to the bed but Stiles stops him just before they get there. “Not yet.” He declines and pulls Derek’s t-shirt over his head. “Why were you ever wearing this anyway.” Stiles states, really to himself but Derek chuckles anyway. Stiles drops to his knees and begins to unbuckle Derek’s pants, pulling them down and kissing Derek’s waist line in the process.

He looks at Derek’s dick. He’d known Derek since he was 15 and had been best friends with him for almost 2 years now and is just now seeing his dick. It’s kind of disappointing to him in all honesty. He doesn’t really get time to admire it before it’s in his mouth. Derek throws his head back in pleasure and tangles his fingers in Stiles now slightly overgrown hair. Derek doesn’t even really know why he offered this, why he asked Stiles to have sex with him. He hasn’t even thought about the possibility of being in love since Kate, but Stiles was something else entirely. Stiles was beautiful, and funny, and so far from perfect it made Derek smile to himself on many occasions. He was also loud and annoying, and he moved his body way too much for anyone to truly be comfortable with. But he was Stiles, and Derek had never been so fascinated with anyone in his life. So fuck it, maybe he was in love with Stiles.

“Fuck.” Derek groans, knowing that if he lets this go on for too long he’ll let out way before he wants to. He steps back, motioning for Stiles to stand up and they’re kissing again. He slips his fingers underneath Stile’s boxers, squeezing his butt in the process with no real shame in doing so. Stiles beats him to actually pulling his pants down, patience running thin. They’re both naked now and Stiles has never felt more exposed and raw. He has gotten naked for Andy plenty of times, almost every day since they’ve been together. It was different with Derek though, he felt like everything was new and he didn’t know what he was doing, probably because he didn’t.

Derek pushes Stiles onto the bed, their lips only separating for a second before returning to one another. “I don’t have anything.” Derek informs, moving down to kiss on Stiles’ neck, focusing on the bruises littered across his pale skin.

“You don’t need anything.” Stiles breathes out.

Derek moves onto his chest now, not really processing this conversation in full. “Hurt you.”

Stiles wraps his legs around Derek’s back. “I can handle it.” Derek nods and moves back up to kiss Stiles on the lips while positioning himself at Stiles’ entrance. He pushes himself in and does his best to ignore Stiles’ verbal discomfort. Once he’s inside he doesn’t move for a while, taking as much time as he can just kissing Stiles and enjoying everything this moment had to offer. “Derek honey, you have about 10 seconds to start moving before I finish this on my own in the bathroom.”

Derek shakes his head and laughs. “So needy.”

But he does move eventually, slow at first then picking up speed. “Fuck yes Derek, fuck keep going.” Stiles is shouting but actually keeping his voice quite low. Derek swears he could replay that phrase for the rest of his life and never get sick of it.  

It doesn’t take long for them to come, but Stiles swears he hears “I think I love you” just before Derek falls asleep

**When Derek woke the next morning it was to an empty bed.**

**He does find Stiles 3 weeks later though, begging for drugs on the streets of Paris. That became who they were. Derek would find Stiles, and the younger man would attempt to stay clean for as long as possible before giving up and having Derek find him again. Derek hated it, he hated how slow Stiles’ heart was when he was drunk and how fast it was when he was high. He hated finding him passed out outside the apartment Derek bought somewhere along the line. He hated that Stiles couldn’t stay out of trouble. But he loved Stiles, even if it took him some time to realize how much. So he dealt with the addiction the best he could.**

_“Stiles, you don’t even realize how deep in this you are. You are selling yourself for drugs now and it fucking kills me.” Derek pleads, kicking the wall in the process._

**_“_ ** _Derek baby” Stiles stands up and wraps his arms around Derek, kissing his neck. “please don’t be like this.”_

_Derek knows this all too well, Stiles would show him he cares for just a second and Derek would be back in. “Stiles, you have to fight this addiction or you’re going to die.” He pauses. “Don’t make me lose someone else I love.”_

_Stiles shakes his head quickly. “I could stop this. I know I could I just don’t want to. What I want,” He plays with the color of Derek’s sweater. “I want you Mr. to stop preaching to me all the time. You aren’t going to lose me.”_

_Derek roughly pulls Stiles’ arm down from his sweater. “You’re not the one.” He moves backwards. “You’re not the one who has to find me naked in some random person’s apartment, or passed out in front of someone’s house. Stiles. You are an addict.”_

_“You are annoying.” Stiles smirks. “Come on. How about we fuck and I make you forget all about this?”_

_“No thanks.” Derek turns and starts toward his bedroom door behind him. “You don’t smell like yourself anymore.”_

**The thing is, when you live a dangerous life style all that danger has to come back to you.**

Stiles was running as fast as his legs would carry him. He figured after 3 years and no sign of retaliation Andy’s friends would have just forgotten about it but he was horribly wrong. He hasn’t spoken to Derek in 5 days, they got in some huge fight about Stiles doing coke in the house and Stiles stormed out and hasn’t talked to him since. He has been staying at his friend Riley’s house, who turns out isn’t his friend really at all and works for whoever the hell Andy works for. So now he’s running. Running for his life.

He was losing this race though. Whoever these people were they were closing in on him and whether he wanted to he was going to die. He imagined his murder to ne pretty cool so he couldn’t say a bunch of thugs killing him because he stole drugs from his abusive ex-boyfriend wasn’t proper badass but he still kind of wished it happen this way. He wishes he talked to his dad in the last 3 years. He wishes he went back home to Beacon Hills a few times to see Scott. He wishes he could’ve listened to Derek more often and actually made one of his relationships worthwhile.

So this was it, he was currently back into some warehouse corner with 5 guns pointed straight to his brain and literally no way to smart mouth his way out of it. “Before you all kill me let me just say you all look incredible tonight and I am truly honored to be murdered by anyone of you.”

“Can you please shut the fuck up?” One of them asks, visibly annoyed. “Alright, let’s get this over with; boss want’s me in Cuba by noon.”

Stiles closes his eyes bracing himself for impact, only opening them when the stern yell of “Wait” is heard. He sees Derek standing above them a few feet away, still in human form and mad as hell.

“I’ll pay you what he wasted.” He states, not looking at Stiles once. “Ten grand will cover triple of what he actually owes, ten grand up front and this is behind you.”

All the thugs lower their guns as one of them pulls out a cell phone and begins to talk. “ten grand for the Stiles kid if we drop it, yeah, alright.” He hangs up and looks to Derek. “Deal.” He agrees, walking over to Derek and taking the two bundles of cash and finding their exit just as easy as they came.

“Thank you.” Stiles breathes out. Derek nods in return but doesn’t say a word to Stiles, he begins his own walk to the door opposite the thugs. “Derek wait.” Stiles runs up to him, grabbing his arm and flinches when Derek pulls back.

“Stiles I’m sick of this.” He begins, trying to calm his anger. “I keep telling myself that it isn’t your fault, that had you not meant Andy this would have never happened but Andy never forced you to do those drugs Stiles, that was you. This is your fault and you have no idea how much it fucking hurts me. I put everything on the line for you. Everywhere I go, I go because you’re there. Everything I do, I do to benefit you. Everything I am is flushed with Stiles. I left Beacon Hills so I could be happy, and the only time I truly was, was that summer before you started college. That’s the Stiles I’m in love with, and I do all this for you because I know he’s still in there some fucking where but I’m too sick of waiting for him to come out. Stiles, you are an addict. You have to fix that Stiles, you have to because I’m not doing this if you don’t. I don’t mean for a week or two, I mean I want the drugs gone. Which shouldn’t be a problem because according to you, you can stop this.”

Stiles looks down at his shoes while listening to Derek, because even without having super werewolf hearing to see he’s telling the truth, he knows that he is. “I’m sorry about this you know.” And he’s crying for reasons he doesn’t even know.

“Come here,” Derek says, pulling him into a hug. “You have to stop though. Next time I’m done, next time it’s over.”

**So Stiles stopped. It took 2 years to do so, but he really did. He moved back to New York and gets back into NYU for computer science. He got a job at the diner he and Derek loved 5 years ago, so he gets to see his now ‘official’ boyfriend anytime he wants.**

**Those two years may have been his most painful, but the year to follow was his happiest.**

“ _I love this city.” Stiles whispers, reconnecting his lips to Derek’s and wrapping his arms around the taller man._

_“I love you.” Derek says against his mouth. They are on the balcony of their loft just off of Time Square. Stiles was done with finals and one out of the four semesters at NYU are done._

_“You’re a big sap you know that?”_

_Derek shrugs and wraps his arms around Stiles, looking up at the sky. “Ty says he admires my romantic side.”_

_“You get all your relationship advice from Ty?”_

_“The better half of it.”_

_Stiles laughs and buries his face in Derek’s shirt. “Ugh. I wish I could feel like I do now forever.”_

_Derek hums a response, kissing the top of Stiles head in the process. “You could marry me.”_

_“I could.” He laughs, relaxing further into his boyfriend._

_“So do it.”_

_“I will.”_

**So they do.**

“I’m just so happy to see you.” John says quietly, face in Stiles’ suit. Stiles had been in Beacon Hills for exactly 27 hours and John had snuck in 13 hugs since then, but Stiles would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy them. He’s 26 now, and hasn’t so much as heard his father’s voice since he was 18, so yeah, he’s pretty happy to see him too.

“You too dad.” He smiles, wrapping his arms around his father once again.

“What were you doing for all those years anyway, I was worried sick about you, you know.”

Stiles rocks on his toes and places his hands in his pockets. “Let’s save that conversation for another time.”

John is about to say something when Derek appears in the doorway. “Wedding starts in 10.” He starts but doesn’t continue when he sees Stiles.

“Derek you aren’t supposed to see each other until the wedding you know.”

“Dad, he already saw me this morning we kind of blew it.”

“Not an excuse-”

“Mr. Stilinski.” Derek begins. “You mind if I have a second with Stiles?”

John sighs and starts at the door. “This time you two better not disappear for years.”

Derek laughs lightly and turns to Stiles, not talking until he hears the door close.

“How did I get so lucky?” Stiles asks, stepping closer to Derek and holding his hands.

Derek smiles and wraps his arms around Stiles tightly, as if he would drift away if he let go for even a minute. He inhales and smiles to himself. “Crayons and dirt.”

“What?” Stiles pulls back looking at Derek confused.

“You smell like fire, crayons, and dirt.”


End file.
